Examining Related Evidence: Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
This internet activity is based on the Examining the Evidence feature found on page 411 of
The American Pageant, Twelfth Edition. Or you can view the feature
here.
Shortly before Harriet
Beecher Stowe wrote
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a famous escape from slavery also greatly affected American anti-slavery sentiment. To learn more about this go to the University of North Carolina’s Documenting the American South collection and look at the
Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown.
First look at the illustration. Then skim through the narrative to help you answer the following questions:
- Where did Henry Brown live as a slave?
- Identify 2–3 terrible aspects of slavery that he experienced.
- How did he escape slavery?
- Why would this story have been so sensational in 1849?
- Surmise which narrative had a greater effect on Americans in the North, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Henry Box Brown’s Narrative. Why?
